Mike Nadel: Will pressure of expectations squeeze Juice?

Sunday

Aug 31, 2008 at 12:01 AMAug 31, 2008 at 8:15 PM

It's not fair to put the weight of the Illinois football program on the shoulders of a 20-year-old kid. It's not fair to say the Fighting Illini's success this season depends on Juice Williams' strong right arm, fleet feet and savvy. It's not fair ... but we'll do it anyway, won't we?

Mike Nadel

It's not fair to put the weight of the Illinois football program on the shoulders of a 20-year-old kid. It's not fair to say the Fighting Illini's success this season depends on Juice Williams' strong right arm, fleet feet and savvy.

It's not fair ... but we'll do it anyway, won't we?

Such is life for the quarterback of any team at any level, let alone the QB of a ranked Big Ten team only nine months removed from a Rose Bowl appearance.

"This is my team," Williams said. "This is my year."

His year began Saturday night with his team taking on the Missouri Tigers – who went into the season believing their star quarterback, Chase Daniel, would lead them to the mythical national championship or darn close to it. (The game was not over when this edition went to press.)

Unlike most season-opening games involving Big Ten heavyweights, this wasn't Ohio State toying with Youngstown State, Penn State pulverizing Coastal Carolina or Wisconsin goofing around with Akron. It wasn't even Michigan going for certain home victories against the likes of Appalachian State or Utah. (How's that working out, Big Blue?)

No, Illinois meeting up with Missouri was the nation's Big One in Week One, and not just because the combatants are from neighboring states or because the programs recruit many of the same players or because organizers gave the game a clever nickname (the Arch Rivalry - at least as long as it's played in St. Louis).

Coming off a 12-2 season in which the idiotic BCS system screwed them out of a major bowl game, the Tigers opened this year ranked No. 6 in the country. The Illini, a surprising 9-4 in 2007, were No. 20.

Pretty heady stuff for a couple of basketball schools.

And so the Edward Jones Dome - half decked out in orange and half dressed up in gold - was the setting for the start of the Juice Williams Era.

Sure, this is his third year in Ron Zook's program and his second as the starter. But it's his first as the quarterback of a team expected to excel, his first as the leader of an offense that isn't built around tailback Rashard Mendenhall. In 2007, Illinois' passing attack ranked 109th out of 119 major-college teams.

"We kept a lot of pressure off him in the last two years," Zook said a few weeks ago. "I said, 'Juice, it’s time for you to take it over.' It is his team. It is his offense. He's such a humble kid. He doesn’t want to be in the limelight. Sometimes you have to push him to be that."

In the days leading up to the opener, Williams was as curious as anybody to see what would happen: "We'll find out when we play Missouri ... where we stand as a passing unit."

Early on, his receivers couldn't stand tall enough to catch his inaccurate passes. The Illini's first possession ended when Williams airmailed one over the 6-foot-2 Arrelious Benn. The next time Illinois had the ball, Williams missed Fred Sykes over the middle and then overthrew a wide-open Will Judson for what could have been a 95-yard touchdown play.

It seemed only a matter of time before tens of thousands of Missouri fans would begin chanting: "O-ver-ra-ted!"

Williams then started showing why he's rated, zipping two perfect passes to Benn and then a 30-yard TD to tightly covered Judson.

When Derek Walker picked off a pass by Daniel - actually, the defensive end couldn't have gotten out of the football's way if he had tried - and rumbled 34 yards for a touchdown, Illinois led 13-10. And Williams was looking like the best quarterback on the field.

But Mizzou star Jeremy Maclin returned the ensuing kickoff 99 yards and the momentum was returned to the efficient Daniel and his talented Tigers.

As is common for scrambling QBs, Williams occasionally hesitated while deciding whether to pass or run, and his indecision contributed to sacks or broken plays. He did his part overcoming those few negative moments with many impressive throws in a wild second half.

Juice Williams seemed close to taking that next big step if only his fellow Illini would join him.

Mike Nadel (mikenadel@sbcglobal.net) is the Chicago sports columnist for GateHouse News Service. Read his blog, The Baldest Truth, at www.thebaldesttruth.com.

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